Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 13:

In page 12, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “Use of personal public service number

12. (1) Subject to subsection (3), a health services provider shall record the personal public service number of each of his or her patients and shall associate the personal public service number of the patient with any record that the health services provider makes in relation to the provision of a health service to that patient.

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), a health services provider may request a patient to provide his or her personal public service number to the health services provider.

(3) A health services provider shall not refuse to provide a health service to a patient to which the patient would be otherwise entitled to solely because he or she—

(a) has not been allocated and issued with a personal public service number, or

(b) is not in a position to provide the health services provider with his or her personal public service number.

(4) For the purposes of performing its functions under this Act the Executive may, where appropriate, use a personal public service number to identify a patient in order to identify and link the patient’s health information to his or her Electronic Health Record.

(5) A relevant person shall, for the purpose of providing health information to the Executive under this Act, provide the personal public service number of a patient to whom the health information relates where the number is requested by the Executive, and the relevant person has the personal public service number in his or her possession.”.

This amendment is about the use of the personal public service number, which we have discussed in part with amendment No. 3.